Health

As I write, it is a beautiful, bright spring morning. We are already in the heart of spring here in Ithaca. The daffodils are at their peak and tulips are just around the corner from blooming, with the lilacs not far behind. I have spent my morning drinking tea, reading poetry and periodically checking in (via my computer) on a pair of nesting herons at Sapsucker Woods, all while thinking of writing this article for the GreenLeaf about my work as a homeopath.

Homeopathy and spring actually have a lot in common. Spring is a time of renewal, and homeopathic medicine holds great potential for deep and lasting renewal of health. Spring is full of energy and possibility, born out of a time of darkness and stillness. Homeopathy is energetic medicine made from nature (plants, animals and minerals) that stimulates the body to transform symptoms of illness into health. The darkness and stillness of winter is a very real metaphor for illness. In my work as a homeopath I approach healing with the idea that illness offers us opportunities through which we can discover places in need of change that then can bring about greater health.

If a fundamental principle of health is that you are what you eat, then the basic premise of healthy homebuilding is that you ought to be able to eat your house. If you have kids or pets, you may know what I'm talking about. For the rest of you, imagine a door viewed through a very powerful microscope. Every time it opens and closes, particles of the door rub off and waft through the air or fall to the floor. If the door is made of real wood, with an edible finish, well and good. If, however, it's covered with paint or made of a plastic composite, those particles floating around the house won't be so good for you, especially if they land on a kitchen cutting board.

Now let's take a microscopic look at a wall. There may not be visible cracks in the surface, but anywhere there's an electrical outlet there is a hole in the wall that may connect directly to the insulation cavity. Any drafts coming through that little hole are going to carry in with them tiny particles of insulation. Therefore, you may want to consider both of these facts when you evaluate or choose the insulation in your walls: some kinds are much more effective than others (fiberglass, though cheap, is actually not a very good insulator); and some are friendlier than others to inhale. I'd sooner eat straw than cellulose, and you couldn't pay me enough to take a mouthful of fiberglass or foam.

Tompkins County is famous for its cloudiness. And it's quickly becoming famous for something else — renewable energy. Despite all those clouds, there's plenty of sun and wind, and more and more Tompkins residents are figuring out how to curb their fossil fuel consumption with a variety of sustainable energy approaches, from the tried-and-true to the purely experim...